Deadline: November 30, 2025
The VR Health Champions Open Call 2026, co-funded by the European Union, invites small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from less developed regions of Central Eastern and Southern Europe to apply for up to €60,000 in funding to collaborate on VR/AR healthcare solutions that advance clinical, market, and regulatory innovation.
The program aims at breaking down market, clinical and regulatory barriers in XR healthcare across less developed regions of Central Eastern and Southern Europe, while fast-tracking the advancement of VR/AR applications. It focuses on five flagship SMEs – Dotlumen, MEEVA, MedApp, Metaskills, and Virtuleap – that are leading this transformation. The project’s outcome is to upgrade their Technology Readiness Level (TRL) for VR/AR innovations from TRL 6 to TRL 9, ultimately creating pathways for future innovations in the sector. It seeks SMEs active in areas such as clinical research, medical imaging, healthcare IT and AI, behavioral sciences, regulatory affairs, marketing and go-to-market strategies, market analysis, software testing, UX design, and computer vision, to be strategically matched with Flagship projects through cascade funding and to foster cross-sector knowledge exchange and technology transfer.
The VR Health Champions initiative is a three-year project designed to accelerate the growth of XR (Extended Reality) healthcare technologies in Europe’s emerging innovation ecosystems. By connecting regional SMEs with five flagship companies—Dotlumen, MEEVA, MedApp, Metaskills, and Virtuleap—the project seeks to drive collaborative development that enhances product readiness, compliance, and market access.
Through the Open Call 2026, selected SMEs will receive a lump-sum grant of up to €60,000 to address specific innovation challenges. These challenges are tied to the strategic roadmaps of the flagship SMEs, covering critical domains such as market strategy, clinical evaluation, regulatory documentation, AI and machine learning model development, cybersecurity, and medical device validation. Participants will gain hands-on collaboration opportunities, contributing expertise that supports the advancement of VR/AR healthcare technologies from mid-level prototypes to fully deployable solutions.
Beyond funding, the program provides participants access to the broader VR Health Champions ecosystem, including strategic partners like EIT Health, XR4Europe, and Medtronic. This network integration enhances visibility and fosters interregional cooperation within the healthcare innovation value chain. By enabling SMEs to solve applied challenges in partnership with industry leaders, the program strengthens the digital and medical innovation landscape across Europe.
Eligible applicants must qualify as SMEs under EU Recommendation 2003/361/EC and be legally established in designated less developed regions of countries such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France (Outermost Regions), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. Each applicant can submit only one proposal, selecting a single challenge aligned with their area of expertise.
For more information, visit VR Health Champions.
